Brave Collective Host Guide

One of the great things about The Brave Collective is that there is freedom for your Collective to be a reflection of your own personality, style and interests. It can include 3 ladies or 8. You could meet in a coffeeshop or at your dining room table. You could have dinners, brunches, order take-out, eat chips and salsa or do a combination of all of them.

We have tons of inspiration for you below with links to Pinterest board that include decoration ideas and recipes. We have videos and downloadables. Each city we’re helping to launch a local Brave Collective will have it’s own take and flair on the theme, and we’ll share all that information with you as those events happen. But here’s the thing: the environment may shape the conversation, but the important part is that women gather to share their courage. Do what feels right with your Brave Collective (but be sure to share with us using #bravecollective).

Each Brave Collective will meet a total of 4 times over 6 months. We have a Brave Collective Conversation Guide prepared for you and will update it as we journey through the 4 different meetings here in Denver.

Either way, when you decide to host, shoot us an email at bravecollective@mops.org so we can encourage you, answer questions and send you a free copy of the Fall 2014 issue ofHello, Darlingmagazine where we launched The Brave Collective.

Four Steps to Host a Brave Collective

1. Find a table

Any table will do, as long as you can gather some friends around it. The goal is to create a safe space that welcomes women to gather in honest and vulnerable ways.

2. Invite people to get together

This step is a wildcard because The Brave Collective is for every woman. Perhaps you are going to invite some women who live in your neighborhood or maybe some lifelong friends. Maybe your Brave Collective will consist of friends from MOPS or you’re feeling like inviting some moms you just met at the park. The invite list is yours to own. So pick a date and send an invite.

Share some food and conversation. Order takeout, make an elaborate meal, heat up some leftovers … it all counts. However you choose to curate a meal, the point is eating together is medicinal. Cutting into bread and sipping coffee together nourishes our bodies and breaks down our walls.

Use the Brave Collective Invites we created for you, and talk to each person individually to make sure they know that everyone is committing to pursuing one brave thing at this meal.

3. Choose a brave

Ask everyone at your table to choose one brave thing stirring in their souls. It might be having a hard conversation, taking a reasonable risk or tackling a goal laying dormant. Bravery is brave, no matter how it is sliced, so every step into bravery is valued and respected.

Have each person write their brave on the super cute Brave Cards we created for just such an occasion.

To commemorate the beginning of something new, Brave Collectives across the US are using the same toast to set the tone for their brave pursuits. Print a Brave Collective Toast for each person to read from and take home as encouragement.

4. Wash dishes and repeat in a few weeks

Gather three more times over the next six months to talk about your brave decisions. Celebrate each other’s successes, toast to trying and remind one another failure comes with risk. The beauty of the Collective is we get to care for one another, cheering each other on toward our most brave choices.

5. (This is a bonus step!) Share your brave.

The courage of everying in the greater Brave Collective grows when you share yours. Snap a few photos along the way and share with #bravecollective.

Other Recources

The Brave Collective Curator

Dalley Galuzzi is long known as a filler of hearts and souls. She was an obvious choice when we were looking for someone to help put the dream of women living bravely into reality.

She gave life and legs to this idea and put together Pinterest boards to help you plan your gatherings, but more importantly, she’s available by email to answer questions, provide encouragement and share stories as you join The Brave Collective.

Find Dalley at bravecollective@mops.org

We introduced The Brave Collective in the Fall 2014 issue of Hello, Darling magazine. We discuss everything you need to know to host The Brave Collective. If you didn’t get a copy of the issue and would like your own, you can subscribe to get Hello, Darling in your mailbox every season.